Container closure



FIG.2

INVENTOR MILTON B. BRENNER ATTY.

ilnited rates Patented Nov. 11, 1958 free CONTAINER CLOSURE Milton B. Brenner, Oak Park, Ill.

Application January 30, 1957, Serial No. 637,174

2 Claims. (Cl. 22024) My invention relates in general to a closure for containers and more particularly to a reusable pressure sealing device for closing a V-shaped opening in the end wall of a container.

An object of my invention is to provide a pressure sealing device which positively reseals a container after it has once been opened by the well known method of punching a V-shaped orifice in the end wall of a container. An example of such an opening device is shown as described in Patent No. 1,996,550 issued to Dewitt F. Sampson and John M. Hothersall on April 2, 1935.

Another object of my invention is to provide a sealing device which may be easily attached and simply removed from one container and immediately used on another.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a sealing device which may be attached to a container with varying amounts of applied force and when sealed retains the pressure of the contents with substantially the same force used in attaching it to the container wall.

A further object of my invention is to provide such a sealing device that effectively closes all V-shaped openings even though there be considerable irregularity and variation in their sizes caused by different openers.

A further object of my invention is to provide a sealing device that is of the simplest design and made of a minimum number of parts so as to facilitate its manufacture by the simplest and most economical methods and be susceptible to the highest standards of cleanliness with little difficulty to the user.

A common method of opening metallic containers to remove the liquid, semisolid, or gaseous contents therein is to utilize the V-shaped punch type opener similar to that described in Patent No. 1,996,550, referred to above. My sealing device is designed to provide a method for resealing the container in order to preserve the contents remaining in the container, after it has once been opened with a V-shaped punch type opener. By resealing a container so opened, the user is assured that the contents remaining may be safely stored in the original container. The contents may be removed in the same condition as when the container was rescaled, thus retaining its original flavor or effervescent qualities by simply detaching my sealing device. The user, by resealing in this manner may agitate the container in order to equally distribute the solid and liquid contents in the case of fruit juices and the like, without fear of spilling.

These and other advantages of this invention will be more clearly understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and its scope will be apparent from the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the sealing device embodied in this invention, showing the flexible portion in relation to the rigid body member.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the sealing device showing the flexible contact surface.

Fig. 3 is a cutaway view of a container showing the sealing device in its attached position.

Fig. 6 is a detailed view of the lower center portion of Fig. 4, to clearly show the action of the grooves with V the end wall of the container.

Fig. 7 is a cutaway view of a container similar to Fig. 3, showing the sealing device being removed.

Referring now to Fig. 1, an illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown having soft flexible portion 2%) and rigid body member 10 substantially imbedded in it to form one integrated sealing device. Vertical rigid member 10 may be formed from a metallic or plastic material which will support and may be bonded to softer flexible member 20. Rigid member 10 is comprised of a handle 11 on one end portion thereof, which has a greater width dimension than its thickness dimension; the cross section of a base 12 that is as shown in this embodiment as being substantially V-shaped but which may be flat, rounded, or any other configuration is situated at the other end' portion of member 10; and as shown in this embodiment, a supporting fin 13 intermediate handle 11 and base 12 in a plane perpendicular to the vertical axis of rigid member it The various parts of rigid member 10 should have proper cross-section, thickness and width to insure necessary strength but without superfluous overall bulk and should be designed to cooperate efficiently with the properties of flexible portion 20.

A series of long narrow horizontal grooves 14 equally spaced in the vertical direction and parallel to each other are formed on each of two equal sides of the base portion 12 of rigid member 10 (see Fig. 6). Grooves 14 are adapted to engage edges 31 of the end wall of container 40 adjacent to the point of V-opening 35? as seen in Fig. 5, formed by a punch type opener similar to that described in Patent No. 1,996,550. The edges 31 are bent slightly downward by the action of the punch type opener as seen in Figures 4 and 6. The horizontal planes of the grooves 14 are bent downward and inward toward the vertical axis of the rigid member 10 as seen in Figs. 4'and 6, cooperating with the edges 31 to allow downward movement of the sealing device but preventing upward movement unless the grooves 114 are disengaged from the edges 31.

The soft flexible member 2t) is molded or bonded to cover all of rigid member 10 except a small portion of base 12 and substantially follows the contours of the rigid member to a point just below the supporting fin 13. At that point, as shown in Figure l, the flexible member 20 extends outward from the vertical axis of the rigid' member 10 in a plane substantially parallel to the supporting fin 13 to form a contact surface 23 in the shape of a distorted circle, as seen in Figure 2.

A heel portion 22 of the contact surface 23' is shaped to follow the curvature of the double seam 41 joining the side and end walls of an average size metallic container and the outer limits of toe portion 24 of the Contact surface 23 are defined by a portion of the perimeter of a circle having a much smaller diameter than the circle defining the heel portion 22. The entire cross-sectional area of contact surface 23 is much greater than the area of the orifice made by an average size V-shaped punch type opener.

The soft flexible portion 20 of the sealing device may be formed from a rubber, plastic, or similar material with properties that will allow it to intimately conform to the surface of the end wall 42 and double seam 41 of the container 40 adjacent to the V-shaped orifice 30 made by a punch type opener in order to insure a tight seal with a minimum pressure exerted by the user, yet recover its original shape when the sealing device is removed 7 from its attached position.

The shape of the contact surface 23 should be slightly concave-asshown in Fig. 1, rather than flat in order to more evenly divide the applied pressure'throughout 'its entire cross-section. I have. also found that long narrow concentric grooves 25 as seen in Figures .1 and 2, may be formed onthe contact surface 23 in order to induce a suction action when the contact surface 23 joins the surface of the endwall of the container adjacent to the punch formed orifice 30.

By grasping handle portion 21 of the sealing device the user may insert the short base portion 12 extending beyond the contact surface 23 into the opening 30 in the end wall 42 of a container made by a V-shaped punch, being certain that the toe portion 24 of the'sealing device is toward the point of the opening 30.."It is suggested that the open container with its contents be se curely placed on a flat surface before attempting to attach the sealing device. Only a downward movement is:neces sary to attach the sealing device once the base portion 12 is in the opening. When the heel portion 22 of the" contact surface 23 contacts'the double seam 41.0fthe container 40, it will force the base 12 of the rigid-.mem ber 10 with its retaining grooves 14 into engagement with the slightly bent edges of the V-shaped opening 31. This will allow further downward movement to an extent which is dependent upon how much pressure is necessary to retain the contents of the container. 1 Y

' As seen in Fig. 3, in this position the contact surface 23 is flattened against the end wall of the container by the action of supporting fin 13 to form a seal in thearea 43 surrounding the punched opening 30. As'seen in Figures 4 and 6, the entire sealing device-is now pre-- vented from any upward movement due to the lower surface 16 of grooves 14 locking against the edges 31 ofthe V-shaped opening 30. To further increase the pressure of the contact surface 23 against the end wall 42 of the container 40, merelyexert enough downward force'to engage a higher set of grooves 14 of the rigid member 10 on the edges 31 of the end wall 42 of the container 40. I

To remove the sealing device, it is only necessary to.

disengage the grooves 14 from the edges 31 by tilting the handle 11 forward as seen in Fig. 7. The toe '24 of the contact surface 23 acts as a pivot and the base portion 12 of the rigid member 10 with grooves 14 is forced out of engagement with the edges 31 of the end wall 42 of the container 40.

-The sealing device now may easily be cleaned and immediately reused on the same or other container.

I have found other ways of sealing a V-shaped opening in the end wall of a container. One way utilizes a device similar to an inverted bolt with the head portion inserted in the opening and pushed forward to lock under the point of the V-opening. This device has a rubber portion fitting tight around the threads of the bolt, and the rubber portion is shaped large enough to cover. the opening. The rubber portion is placed on the shank of the bolt above the V-opening and is tightened over the opening by turning a wing-nut down the threads of the bolt. The head of the bolt catches on the underside of the V-opening in the end Wall to anchor the entire device in place.

Another device comprises a;fiat wedge shaped rubber portion large enough to cover the V-opening with a rigid supportingportion molded within. Toward the point of the wedge, the rigid member protrudes from the bottom of the" rubber portion to 'hookbeneath the vertex of the -V-shaped opening in the end wall of the container. The rigid member also protrudes from the opposite end of rubbe'npor'tion toen'gage the outside bottom edge of the double rim of the container and hold the rubber portion in place.

Both of the preceding devices are successful ways of sealing the V-shaped'orificein the end wall of acontain'er and are examples-of other modifications and changes varied to -fit particular operating requirements-and en-' vironments apparent to those skilled in the-Bart; This invention is not considered limited to the examples-chosen for purposes of disclosure and covers modifications which do notconstitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this'invention.

What I claim is:

, 1. An attachment for r'eclosing a dispensing triangular aperture in the fiat end of a cylindrical receptacle-which aperture is positioned adjacent the rim and has one-apex of the triangle directed toward the cente'r'of the re'c'e'p tacle, comprising a body of resilient material having aslightly concave bottom surface of greater area than the aperture when positioned contiguous to the flat end of said receptacle and covering said aperture and an arcuate face 'having the same radius as the said rim-substantially normal to said bottom surface for frictionalengagement with said rim, a rigid member polygonal in cross section, extending perpendicularly downwardly from said bottom surface, with two sides thereof defining an apex directed away from said arcuate face, said sides havingse'rrations providing upwardly directed teeth for interlocking with the sides of the aperture, the arcuate surface of said body being in frictional engagement with the rim of said receptacle when said attachment is positioned in' said, aperture."

2. An attachment in accordance with claim "1 wherein said body of resilient material is provided with a top extension to form a handle for dislodging' said attachment from the receptacle by a laterally applied force.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS McFarland June 21, 1892' 

